Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team opened its home schedule on Tuesday night with a 71-63 non-conference loss to visiting Bard. Sophomore Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) and junior Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) led the Knights with 11 points each.
 
The opening minutes of the game featured five ties, before Bard used a 15-3 run covering just over five minutes to open a 35-21 lead on a Chris Lockwood three-pointer with 40 seconds left before halftime. The Knights were held without a field goal over the run and saw Bard go 6-for-6 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers.
 
Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) hit a pair of free-throws in the final 32 seconds to get the Mount to the break trailing 35-23, but the Knights went without a bucket in the first half after a Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) lay-in with 5:46 left in the frame.
 
Bard shot 46.9-percent from the floor prior to the intermission and was led by 10 points off the bench from Merritt Miller. The Knights were held to 20.8-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and were outrebounded in the first half 27-12.
 
Coming out of the break, Bard got five straight points from Harry Johnson to open a 40-23 lead and took its largest lead of the game when a David Runcie bucket pushed the visitors in front 63-39 with 7:37 remaining in the tilt.
 
Mount Saint Mary would mount a comeback that started with an Owen Heath (Jamestown, R.I.) jumper in the paint to cut the Knights' deficit to 20 points. The bucket started a 16-4 run for the Mount covering 5:04 that sliced their disadvantage to just 10 points with 94 seconds left in the game.
 
Bacci led the charge with seven points, while Bard was able to get just one field goal attempt off over the run, while turning the ball over five times. The Knights went 4-for-7 from the field, including a pair of triples.
 
Bard would go on to knock in four of its final six free-throws in the game to reopen a double-figure advantage and hold off the Mount Saint Mary charge.
 
The Raptors misfired on 10 free-throws in the second half to keep the Knights close and turned the ball over 16 times in the second period. Johnson led the second half offensive attack for Bard with 10 points.
 
Bard finished the game shooting better than 44-percent from the field and showed four players in double-figures. Miller led the way with a game-high 18 points with Lockwood and Johnson combining for 22 points and six assists. Runcie led all players in the game with 11 rebounds.
 
Bacci did all of his scoring in the second half and finished the game 2-for-4 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists. Nocera matched the team-high in scoring and led the Mount with seven rebounds. Angelo Accattato (West Haverstraw, N.Y.) came off the bench to produce four points, three rebounds and a team-high three assists.
 
The Knights were outrebounded in the game 56-29 overall and 20-10 on the offensive glass, but were outscored by just one point in second chance opportunities. The Knights forced 24 turnovers in the game and turned those into 23 points on the night.
 
At 1-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will return to action on Thursday when it opens conference play at Sage. Tip-off in Albany is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.